How to build premake-core from source on MSYS2 UCRT64?

[chadchoi]

I used the same command as in the PKGBUILD of MSYS2's premake package:

https://github.com/msys2/MINGW-packages/blob/master/mingw-w64-premake/PKGBUILD

make -f Bootstrap.mak mingw CONFIG=release ARCH=x86_64

premake-bootstrap.exe is generated and it attempted to build premake5.exe, but I found it's building for release_win32 and of course it will fail to link needed libraries, because my toolchain is x86_64 and not support multilib, so there is no x86 libraries.

The errors are like this:

C:/msys64/ucrt64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/14.2.0/../../../../x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin/ld.exe: skipping incompatible C:/msys64/ucrt64/bin/../lib/gcc/x86_64-w64-mingw32/14.2.0/../../../libmingw32.a when searching for -lmingw32

I inspected the Bootstrap.mk file. I changed the command to be like the suggested in it:

make -f Bootstrap.mak mingw CONFIG=x64

Snippet:

none:
	@echo "Please do"
	@echo "   nmake -f Bootstrap.mak windows"
	@echo "or"
	@echo "   CC=mingw32-gcc mingw32-make -f Bootstrap.mak mingw CONFIG=x64"
	@echo "or"
	@echo "   make -f Bootstrap.mak HOST_PLATFORM"
	@echo "where HOST_PLATFORM is one of these:"
	@echo "   osx linux bsd"
	@echo ""
	@echo "To clean the source tree, run the same command by adding a '-clean' suffix to the target name."
		@echo "Example"
	@echo "   make -f Bootstrap.mak HOST_PLATFORM-clean"

But I found it's still generating for x86:

./build/bootstrap/premake_bootstrap --arch=x86 --os=windows --to=build/bootstrap --cc=mingw  gmake2

(extracted from the terminal output)

And make failed very quickly because Makefile:78: *** "invalid configuration x64_win32". Stop..

make -C build/bootstrap -j`getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN` config=x64_win32

What's going on? Even the embedded instruction in Bootstrap.mk is invalid.

Update: I found that you are hardcoding it to target x86:

mingw: mingw-clean
	mkdir -p build/bootstrap
	$(CC) -o build/bootstrap/premake_bootstrap -DPREMAKE_NO_BUILTIN_SCRIPTS -I"$(LUA_DIR)" -I"$(LUASHIM_DIR)" $(SRC) -lole32 -lversion
	./build/bootstrap/premake_bootstrap embed
	./build/bootstrap/premake_bootstrap --arch=$(PLATFORM) --os=windows --to=build/bootstrap --cc=mingw $(PREMAKE_OPTS) gmake2
	$(MAKE) -C build/bootstrap -j`getconf _NPROCESSORS_ONLN` config=$(CONFIG)_$(PLATFORM:x86=win32)

Why? And how can I change this behavior without having to edit Bootstrap.mk? How do you make binary builds for Windows? I found that you are also using MSYS2.

[chadchoi]

The correct command is:

make -f Bootstrap.mak mingw CONFIG=release PLATFORM=x64

The script set --arch to $(PLATFORM), the environment variable ARCH is completely not being used. I have no idea why the PKGBUILD of MSYS2 still works and possible to produce binary packages.

Note: x86_64 is invalid, only x64 works for PLATFORM.

[samsinsane]

There's a lot to respond to here.

I used the same command as in the PKGBUILD of MSYS2's premake package:

You haven't used the same command. It uses PLATFORM="${_arch}" where $_arch is set to x64 when $CARCH is x86_64, you have ARCH=x86_64 which is completely different.

I inspected the Bootstrap.mk file. I changed the command to be like the suggested in it:

Looks like the Bootstrap.mak comments are out of date with the actual commands. It should be PLATFORM=x64.

Update: I found that you are hardcoding it to target x86:

I don't see any hardcoding to x86? Unless you're referring to this $(PLATFORM:x86=win32), this is just replacing x86 with win32.

How do you make binary builds for Windows?

With Visual Studio.

I found that you are also using MSYS2.

I'm a bit confused by this comment, the only place we really use it is in the CI which shows you exactly how to build it:

premake-core/.github/workflows/ci-workflow.yml

Lines 82 to 120 in 5c440ef

	mingw:
	runs-on: windows-2022
	strategy:
	matrix:
	config: [debug, release]
	msystem: [mingw32, mingw64]
	include:
	- platform: x86
	msystem: mingw32
	- platform: x64
	msystem: mingw64
	defaults:
	run:
	shell: msys2 {0}
	steps:
	- name: Checkout
	uses: actions/checkout@v4
	- name: 'Setup MSYS2'
	uses: msys2/setup-msys2@v2
	with:
	msystem: ${{ matrix.msystem }}
	update: true
	install: >-
	git
	make
	pacboy: >-
	toolchain:p
	- name: Build
	run: PLATFORM=${{ matrix.platform }} CONFIG=${{ matrix.config }} ./Bootstrap.sh
	- name: Test
	run: bin/${{ matrix.config }}/premake5.exe test --test-all
	- name: Docs check
	run: bin/${{ matrix.config }}/premake5.exe docs-check
	- name: Upload Artifacts
	if: matrix.config == 'release'
	uses: actions/upload-artifact@v4
	with:
	name: premake-${{ matrix.msystem }}-${{ matrix.platform }}
	path: bin\${{ matrix.config }}\

---

The correct command is:

Glad you found the correct command in the end.

I have no idea why the PKGBUILD of MSYS2 still works and possible to produce binary packages.

As above, what you have and what PKGBUILD uses weren't the same.